Post#56 » by 76ciology » Mon Mar 25, 2024 4:11 am
It seems like I'm going to win the championship round against Cinci. It's been a hard-fought match, and if this had happened a week earlier, I don't think I would've stood a chance. Cinci’s team is the closest thing to a Moneyball team; just a week of hot shooting and he'd beat your team with FG%, FT%, 3s, PTS, and/or REBs and TOs.
Before this match, I already listed the categories I wanted to win: assists, steals, blocks, TOs, and either FG or FT%. It looked promising until Wemby started getting 5-7 TOs, and I realized I wouldn't be able to win the TOs category, which meant I wouldn't win more than 4 categories. However, injuries and player availability played a big factor again: Tatum sat out a couple of games, Kyrie only had 2 games this week, while Ingram went down with an injury. Then my team had a hot shooting day yesterday, allowing me to win the %, PTS, and 3s categories.
I'd like to say, good game, Cinci! The guys fought hard, and I had to win this one from behind. See you again next year!
Now, to talk about my team and journey in winning this fantasy league. I spent a lot of time managing this team, and there were moments when Sixersbro would remind me that it isn't serious, which made me question why I spent so much time managing this team. Honestly, I still don't know, but I think it's because I had guys who I'm high on and have followed in the last 3-4 drafts, like Walker Kessler and Cam Thomas. And it made managing this team fun for me.
I'd say winning this year was more luck than skill. Regarding the schedule, I don't think I would've won a playoff series if I didn't have a high playoff seed because most of my guys were injured. Then in the next round, I looked at the numbers and don't think I would've beaten Cinci; I lucked out not facing him when his team was scorching hot. I was actually preparing to face Sixersbro's team, which is another team I find very hard to beat. Then in the next round, I lucked myself into beating Motown with some of my guys like Jalen Johnson and Desmond Bane returning from injuries and my team stepping up in the last 2 days. Finally, against Cinci, I wouldn't have won if Ingram and Tatum played the entire week, and my team didn't have surprisingly good shooting yesterday.
Regarding moves, some of the biggest moments where I thought luck saved me are... I always think about that time when I was on vacation and accidentally dropped Herbert Jones. It's one of my "wtf" moments in this league, but the guy I wanted to drop back then was Jalen Williams, who was a rookie back then and is now a top 40-50 fantasy player.
I've mentioned that I like to have the guys I follow on my team. One guy is Keegan Murray, who I traded for Kawhi. The deal eventually got vetoed, and it was understandable. Keegan was a promising rookie while Kawhi was missing a lot of games, which I couldn't afford with also having Dame who also missed a lot of games for the Blazers back then. Kawhi is now a top 15 fantasy player, while Keegan might just be a top 100 fantasy player.
And during the season, I offered Dejounte and Jerami Grant for Trae Young. But once I knew it was Eyeatoma's team I was trading with, aside from Eyeatoma letting me know personally that he's not interested, I also decided not to make any counteroffers because I didn't want a friend to be on the short end of a deal. But Trae eventually sat out for the season, Dejounte stepped up yesterday and played a big part in winning the match against Cinci. I would have lost the match if the deal went through for Trae has decided to sat out the season
I've mentioned that the league should make more trades, but when I think about it, I won this year's fantasy league more because the trades I wanted to make didn't push through, forcing me to sit on this team and just tweak it with free agency, which eventually was the best situation for the team.
I think the league is in good shape. One, you don't really need that much activity or do a lot of trades and roster shuffling to win. Two, if you don't have a superstar, you can alternatively acquire multiple good players in the draft or free agency. Three, luck plays a big factor than more than you can imagine.
Anyone can win.
There’s never been a time in history when we look back and say that the people who were censoring free speech were the good guys.